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Monday, November 18, 2013

Changes to the Western States 100 Qualifying Standards: The Best Laid Plans...

In an earlier post (“Do What You Love… Love What You Do”), I had discussed my
decision to recommit to trail running and to my desire to pursue my number one
bucket list item, running the Western States 100. In the aftermath of that choice, a barrage of
other choices followed, which ultimately led to us leaving for a year on the
road for me to pursue my ultrarunning dreams.

I had carefully laid out a year’s worth of plans that
involved qualifying for Western States early in the year in March in Kentucky
at the Land Between the Lakes 50 mile race,
on a course I was familiar with and comfortable with. The attempt early in the
year was so that if I did not qualify on the first try that I would be able to
follow that up later in the year with another attempt. If I did qualify, I was
planning on a 100k, 100 miler or 24 hr race later in the year (still to be
determined) to help get me ready in case I was lucky enough to get in.

Then, in late October, some news came out on the WesternStates 100 site that changed everything: their
qualifying standards were changing! They subtitled the article with the
statement “Keep it fair. Keep it Simple. Raise the
Bar.” Starting with the 2015
race (the earliest one I would be able to qualify for), 50 mile races were no
longer accepted as qualifiers for the Western States 100. Entrants for the
lottery now must qualify by running one of the approved 100k or 100 mile races.

They gave some pretty good justifications for the
changes. Because of the growing
popularity of ultras and the draw of the Western States, the number of
applicants has been steadily increasing. Because of their agreement with the
Forest Service, however, the number of applicants must stay the same. Thus, the
chances of getting selected in the lottery have been plummeting. Here is what
the site has to say about this:

The chances of being one of the lucky 270 drawn last year,
with only a single ticket in the bucket, was a scant 7.9%. With the likelihood
of continued increase in demand – which parallels the growth of the sport
worldwide – if we continue with our current standards and races, the chances of
getting selected in the lottery will soon be below 5%. We don’t believe that is
good for the race or the runners who get a qualifying time, enter the lottery,
and then get rejected in the lottery, some year after year after year.

I do see what they are saying. By requiring the 100k or 100
miler, the number of entrants will probably drop, and that should help with the
long wait times for entry. The site does not say what percent of the qualifiers
each year come to the lottery through the 50 mile races, but it is probably
quite a few.

There is a lot of discussion of the changes on the
ultrarunning discussion boards and blogs. It appears that most ultrarunners
support the changes and feel that it is very reasonable to ask runners to have
qualified at a 100 mile race of comparable difficulty before entering. Most ultrarunners are very much against the “bumper
sticker” approach to ultrarunning, where people rush to run distances to
collect the sticker for the back of their cars. Many feel that to participate
in a race like Western States runners should have shown at least enough
dedication to the sport to be willing to run a 100 miler to prepare. In
addition, most ultrarunners know at least one person who worked for years to be
ready to make a serious attempt at Western States, qualified, and then waited
another few years to get through the lottery process (or are still waiting)
while others they know of, who are new to ultrarunning, possibly only having
run one or two 50ks and the qualifying 50 miler, were lucky enough to get in on
a first try. There really is something about that which just seems wrong.

I also support the change, although it does throw a monkey
wrench of sorts into my plans since I will now have to prepare for and run a
100 miler this year to qualify (almost all of the 100ks are international
events). However, I will take that over
the possibility of qualifying and waiting years to actually get in.

There are 63 races on the qualifier list for 2015. I will need additional time to prepare and
feel a race before August would be totally out of the question. So now I am agonizing over choices…

I am leaning toward the Hallucination 100 at Woodstock. It has a
lot of advantages for me: I am familiar with the trails there; I have a good
support system in MI; and I really like the evening start so that I am running
at night while I am fresh.

Once I decide, which will probably be sometime in the next
few weeks, I will backtrack to try to figure out my racing schedule to
prepare. Anyone want to join me at
Woodstock?

P.S. While I wait, I am getting in some awesome trail running at Ross Prairie State Park in FL. Read about it on the Roaming, Running, Writing blog.